ES Pipe Waterwheel Generates Hydroelectricity Every Time You Turn on the Tap

Here at Inhabitat we love discovering products that generate power from everyday activities – innovations like piezoelectric energy-generating roads and human-powered clothing have the potential to change the world. That’s why were so intrigued by the ES Pipe Waterwheel – it’s a simple system that allows you to generate energy every time you turn on the tap. The Pipe Waterwheel is designed to be installed inline with existing pipes, and it uses the flow of water to turn a set of mini energy-generating turbines.

Designed by Korean innovator Ryan Jongwoo Choi, the ES Pipe Waterwheel is an independent system that contains mini turbines which generate power from flowing water. Every time someone turns on the tap, it creates energy which can then be stored for future use or implemented straight away.

It is also easy to use and install. The ES Pipe Waterwheel can be placed along practically any length of water pumping piping. The waterwheel system then generates power every time someone turns on the tap for a drink of water or a shower. The product has been named as a finalist in the 2012 International Design Excellence Awards. Click below to watch the product in action.

13 thoughts on “ES Pipe Waterwheel Generates Hydroelectricity Every Time You Turn on the Tap”

@karltravis thanks for your comment posted on 20 Jul 2012! Rainwater harvesting is now mandated in our residential highrises in Mumbai/Pune. Water is collected on the terrace and funnelled through a pipe for underground storage. Putting a turbine in the pipe will be a small incremental cost to the water harvesting apparatus that has to be in place. We get a good amount of torrential rain 3 months of the year. For the remaining 9 months we have solar panels and sunshine! I think this will actually work.

Great idea, at a glance it looks relatively inefficient, if it was me I would focus on the efficiency a little as this will ultimately decide how much power you can convert from a given head and flow. Janec1953 – this is also a very interesting idea, have you managed to develop your product any further?

I have a design based on tap water flow that generates hot water. I invented it in 1993 and had the drawings checked by a retired physics professor from a New Zealand university who said it was a pretty invention but needed some work on a few details. I redesigned it and after seeing the ES PIPE WATERWHEEL Generator on the inhabitat sustainable design innovation website today , I would very much like to get my design manufactured too.
Ryan Jongwoo Choi's 2012 mini hydro power device creates electricity from water flow . My design is an apparatus that is to be attached to a cold water tap to make instant hot water and if there is low water pressure it will still work. I can see it being very useful in substantially reducing electricity and gas bills. It would also be useful in refugee camps and emergency disaster situations and in the third world where electricity and gas energy sources are not available and wood is in short supply.
I am looking for a trustworthy 3D computer expert who could convert my drawings and make the prototype parts in Wellington New Zealand. Once this is done I will search for an ethical (green)manufacturer whom I can license my invention to, for manufacture and distribution.
I can be contacted on this site.

Great idea, but the item shows a small light bulb attached to the device. I don't need a small light bulb next to faucet! Can this be tied in the electrical system or grid, to save on the electricity you use? Can it be attached on the line coming into the structure? To utiltize all water usage, such as washing dishes, clothes washer, dishwasher, showers, flushing toilets, and even watering gardens or sprinklers systems. If icould reduce my electric bill even by a small percentage ,that would be energy savings!

I guess I don't get a couple of the comments. If you have running water you have pressure in the line, that is the only way it will work. No pressure=no water in the sink shower etc. It you have "city" water you ARE paying for pressure already, that is the bill the city sends you every month that says how many gallons you used. This system uses a "by-broduct" of something you are already paying for ie city water or your own water pump and "creates" a new product ie energy. Maybe these guys should load a different video to explain it a bit better.

It is completely right what alexgh says. You just collect the energy that a pump has put in the pipeline.
And if you use uphill water towers for the pressure? How is this water coming up that hill? And as I understand hydrodynamics the water-pressure of the whole system is affected as you collect energy at one point. So the pressure far away from the water tower will get even worse, even if use this system near the tower.
So no energy-gain here, just another way to transport energy, what would be useful if you dont have a grid.

We at Mantisgrip love passive action power collection. Our research and development team is actively producing ridge vent energy collection system: from sunlight redirection into encapsulated columnar solar panels to vent-action micro wind turbines, these roof top ridge vents follow similar principles as the ES Pipe water wheel.

Many towns in rural areas have uphill water towers which provide the pressure to the system. This is required either way to get water to the furthest reaches of the town. Some homes will have low pressure. For the homes close to the tower, and downhill will have higher pressure. This product will work for them. In the home. Once the water is in the home it doesn't matter. As long as they have high enough pressure to use it and still shower/wash dishes.It won't affect the towns system unless it's installed in the water mains. Which you're correct, would be foolish.

Don't we pay to pressurize our water system which uses electricity to creates water pressure? It would be more efficient to simply use energy from the outlet instead because there's energy lose from turning﻿ electricity into pressure then turning that back into electricity. If we install these on every pipe in the system we would have to use more energy to push the same amount of water we had before so we wouldn't have any gain in energy.